Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, right, proved it's possible to medal in both road cycling events at the Beijing Olympics by winning the gold medal in the individual time trial.
The 29-year-old made a dazzling dash to the finish in Saturday's road race to capture the bronze in that event.
Team USA's Levi Leipheimer held off Alberto Contador (his teammate during the regular season) to secure the bronze medal in the 29.4-mile race. Sweden's Gustav Larsson finished 2nd.
The other US cyclist, David Zabriskie, was in fourth place when he crossed the finish line earlier in the time trial, but his placement dropped to 12th as latter riders came in.
Contador finished in 4th and Australia's Cadel Evans finished in 5th place. See all the Olympic time trial results.
Duo
The men's time trial was touted as a contest between Cancellara and Stefan Schumacher, who beat him in both Tour de France time trials. That was unexpected, as Cancellara is the current World Time Trial Champion.
Germany's Schumacher started 90 seconds ahead of Cancellara, but Cancellara closed that gap halfway through the race, passing him at the second checkpoint. So much for that scenario.
Thirty-nine men competed on two laps of the 14.7-mile loop — 29.4 miles — that runs between the Badaling and Juyongguan sections of the Great Wall. They're the same loops used in Saturday's road race. The leaders finished the course in just over an hour.
Contador
Contador looked like he might win the gold early in his ride. The Spaniard passed the two cyclists who started before him, and led the race at the first time check.
Loren Mooney, editor in chief of Bicycling magazine and online commentator for NBC, suggested that Contador might be venting a lot of anger about not being able to defend his Tour de France title. He was a member of the Astana team that wasn't invited to compete in this year's Tour.
But that anger couldn't sustain him over the hilly course, as he lost time to Cancellara by the halfway point and faded steadily after that.
Leipheimer
Another cyclist on the course also should have had some anger stored up from missing the Tour. Leipheimer finished in 3rd last year, but also had to sit out the three-week Tour. Instead, he raced in the week-long Cascade Classic in Oregon. He won the classic, tearing up the time trial along the way.
Unlike Contador who started strong and faded, Leipheimer rode consistently over the course. He hit all the checkpoints in second place behind Gustav Larsson, but dropped after Contador and Cancellara came through.
He looked very disappointed when he crossed the finish line, but he didn't know that Contador was slowing. He ended up beating the Spaniard by 8 seconds.
Zabriskie
Zabriskie started in the second group to go out. Although he looked good form-wise, he too slowed toward the end and finished out of contention. The Utah native has been on the mend from an injured vertabra suffered in the Giro d'Italia in May.
Both Leipheimer and Zabriskie competed in Saturday's road race; Leipheimer finished in 11th place and Zabriskie did not finish.
Video
NBC Olympics.com video streamed the time trial. It should be available for replay in the video section sometime in the near future.
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